


In Passing

by strikeyourcolors



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood: Lost Days, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Baby Damian, Fluff, Gen, Resurrected Jason Todd, Talia al Ghul is a decent mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 23:57:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13986051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strikeyourcolors/pseuds/strikeyourcolors
Summary: A newly resurrected and training for vengeance Jason Todd is momentarily waylaid with a very special task. He wasn't aware his lessons to take down Batman were going to involve watching a baby for twenty minutes. Or that it was going to be a very serious, grumpy baby.





	In Passing

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I might as well do a series called "Things that didn't happen to Jason Todd but should have." This is another one of those things. Jason's head is way more put together here than it should be and it follows a pre-crisis timeline as far as aging goes. 
> 
> Someone ages ago requested Jason with a baby. Here you go. Title is from Tales of a Wayside Inn and the well-used ships passing segment of it. Hilariously, this came in at 1,666 words.

"So what's the deal with that?" Jason asked, gesturing vaguely to the vicinity of Talia's lap. They were seated in the lounge of a nice hotel, Talia sipping out of a champagne flute, some drink that Jason was sure he'd never heard of but was appropriate to drink at two in the afternoon without looking like an alcoholic. He just had a club soda. 

"Him," Talia amended, shifting the baby slightly from where he was sitting with his back against her chest. "My son. Damian." The baby looked at him, the green shade of his eyes visible even through the scowl he was offering Jason. 

"How old is he?" Jason asked. "Don't you have like...a nanny or something?"

"He is approaching four months old," Talia replied, sipping out of her champagne flute imperiously. "Of course he has a nanny. He has many servants. The one I brought with me to this particular city displeased me. I thought it better to bring my son on this outing with me."

Probably because the former nanny was in the hotel bathtub with her neck broken, Jason thought, but he didn't care overly much. He had heard rumors Talia had a son. But he'd also seen Talia five months ago and while a heavy coat could cover a lot he didn't think it could cover a pregnancy that advanced. Adoption, then? That was a little bit bizarre, but whatever. There was still the matter of Damian's green eyes and the unsettling familiarity of his face. He still hadn't quite lost that scrunched look of most young infants, but there was something in his features that Jason recognized but couldn't place.

"Jason," Talia said, almost warmly. "I never knew you enjoyed infants." Damian shifted, starting to fuss, waving a furious hand around in the air. Talia reached into her purse and withdrew a pacifier, shoving it between his lips at the next outcry. Damian huffed, but it seemed to soothe him for the time being. 

"They're not awful," Jason conceded. "It's kind of relaxing seeing a tiny person who can't fuck you around." 

Talia laughed and it was that laugh he never knew the realness of. "I have found you a new teacher," She told him easily. "An expert on restraint systems. He will teach you how to extract yourself from situations in which you may be bound." She paused, propping Damian up on her knees, bringing him closer to Jason's gaze. "If you are able to tolerate that. I realize there has been some dissent between you and some of your teachers." She sounded fond. Her scolding wouldn't be very effective if she seemed almost pleased. 

"Not an issue if the teacher isn't a slime ball," Jason assured her. He hesitantly reached out as Damian kicked a foot at him. One of his socks was coming loose and Jason pushed it back up a chubby ankle. 

"Tt!" Damian responded, kicking at him again. 

"Your kid just like...click-hissed at me. Is that normal?" Jason had seen babies but he actually had no frame of reference for normal behaviors they perform.

"He does that at times," Talia answered. "Typically when he is suffering fools."

"I was just fixing his sock." He looked back to the infant who was still sucking on the pacifier in his mouth, but looking increasingly annoyed. Jason knew the feeling. He was saved from having to actually commune with the infant when a waiter approached. He leaned over, whispering in Talia's ear, and she smiled. 

"It seems a contact has arrived a bit early, Jason." Her tone was even. Jason knew barely repressed rage when he saw it. So did Damian, apparently, because a low noise emitted from his throat as he held the pacifier between his gums. 

"Is he _growling_?" Surely that, at least, wasn't normal.

Talia stood. Jason stood with her. "Ah, yes. He does that at times as well." She frowned, briefly. "I am uncertain as to why. Sometimes he appears joyous and other times upset." Her hand smoothed over his dark hair and Jason was about to take his leave when she bumped against him, transferring Damian into his arms before he had time to react. She was close enough to catch the baby if he dropped him, but Jason didn't. He held tightly to the little, squirming form suddenly in his grasp. "Perfect," Talia announced. "Would you make yourself useful to me and contain him for half of an hour? I would call a nanny..." 

 _But she's dead,_ Jason mentally supplied. "I don't really know about babies. Not something any of my teachers covered."

Talia lifted her purse, withdrawing a handbag and leaving the rest. "I will not be long at all, Jason. He was recently fed and changed. He should fall asleep rather shortly." She pursed her lips. "I trust you will handle my son with the utmost care and attention?"

"Yeah," Jason replied automatically. "But my care and attention isn't that great."

Talia acted like she hadn't heard him. She kissed Damian's face, leaving a lipstick mark on the top of his head. She continued to ignore his protests as she followed the waiter out a side door. The lounge was relatively quiet. Jason wondered if he'd get thrown out without Talia's money and class backing him up. 

Damian started to growl again. Jason looked at him, sinking back into his seat to position the baby on his lap facing him. "Is that a joy growl?" He asked the infant. He hoped it was a happy growl. 

Damian spit out his pacifier, making it hit Jason's shirt and roll down it. It left a charmingly wet trail of saliva. Jason expected a cry to immediately follow but Damian only smacked his lips, staring at the stranger in front of him with incredibly judging eyes. Jason felt as scrutinized as he'd ever been. "Stop that," He told him, flailing as Damian tried to launch himself backwards off of his lap. Kid was strong. The kid was surprisingly heavy, too. Leave it to Talia to find the fattest, healthiest, most scrutinizing baby ever. "Your mother said you'd be tired. Are you tired?" And what did Talia call herself to her son? Mama? Mother? Lady Talia?

"Ubabababa," Damian babbled. He was quite possibly the most serious looking baby Jason had ever seen. He took a drink of his club soda. This was not how he anticipated spending even a moment of tonight. He tickled Damian's chubby belly, getting a critical look in response and a frustrated squirm. Damian was tipping his head back, trying to look around. For Talia? Hoping his mother had not actually left him with this fool? Jason had no idea how he could get condescending vibes from something that had been on the planet four months, but he was. 

He thought he was making progress when Damian extended little hands, opening and closing them at his face. He leaned forward. "You want to touch?" He asked, right before Damian seized what he could of his hair and started yanking. "Ow," Jason hissed. "Ow, ow. That was stupid, I know. Let go." It was actually surprisingly difficult to make the baby's fists open. 

"Tt," Damian said as he returned him to his former position on his lap. Jason couldn't blame him for insulting him, either. He risked tickling him again, this time on his thigh, and got an uncertain chortle in return. 

It was...oddly charming. He tried again and Damian wiggled as he did it, starting to giggle softly. Jason was sure he was grinning. He couldn't help it. Surly as Talia's son was, there was something adorable about him. "I don't understand your mom," Jason admitted to him. "She sends me off to be trained by assassins. To be trained in assault weapons and poisons and explosives. Then she hands you to me and walks away. Is this some kind of test? A trick? Because I am not going to be your new nanny." 

Damian yawned, wedging his fist against his mouth. Jason flopped him over with surprising ease. It probably helped that he was seated as he gathered Damian against him, supporting his head partially on his chest and partially on his arm. "Am I containing you?" Jason asked. "You haven't really made much of an attempt to escape. I'd think you were some type of training exercise." 

It was nice. Bizarrely so. The baby was easy to talk to, to say nonsense things to, that didn't really understand. He was helpless and squishy, a nice weight in Jason's arms and didn't seem to care about the people he'd killed or what his future held. Like a therapy animal, but one he had to return to a parent. 

Damian settled to sleep against him and Jason wondered if that was normal, or if the kid was used to being handed off to strangers who happened to be around. The little pout of Damian's mouth didn't relax even in sleep so Jason clung to the fact that he'd heard him giggle before. That, even raised by Talia, this was a loved baby who wouldn't know the early hardships he had. 

"I see I left him in capable hands," Talia said as she tucked her clutch back into her purse. Jason saw a drop of blood on the teeth of the zipper. "Did you have any trouble?"

Not 'did he give you any trouble' but placing the blame squarely on Jason if he had. "Not at all. Yanked my hair. Stared at me with a frown. Went to sleep." 

"He is an old soul," Talia murmured fondly. "But we must be going, now. As should you. You have a train to catch." She picked Damian up from his arms, flopping him over her shoulder. "You have a ticket waiting for you at the window, Jason." Her lips brushed his cheek, cold and impersonal as always. 

He took the opportunity to rest his hand on Damian's back, just for a moment longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews and comments always appreciated. Want to prompt me or make a suggestion? [Here](http://strikeyourcolors.tumblr.com/ask) is another place you can do it.


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